In recent years, in association with an increase in the volume of the information transacted inside or outside a business organization, types and a number of paper documents (such as texts, and drawings) created in a company (or in a department of the company) has increased. Accordingly, the time required for management of the various types of paper documents and a cost required for the management is also increasing. Especially, in management of drawings for designing or the like, there are a plurality of types of drawing for one product, and also there exist a number of drawings for each version, so that the management work becomes inevitably complicated. Under the circumstances as described above, in the industries, a technology for efficiently managing documents without requiring a long period of time and an excessive burden on the operator has been desired.
FIG. 26 is a view showing a method of managing the documents based on the conventional technology. In the following description, a draft drawing is taken as an example of a paper document, and a method of managing the draft drawing is described. More specifically, a case where a plurality of draft drawings prepared in a design department 20 are registered and then a desired draft drawing is retrieved from the plurality of draft drawings and is distributed to a user or users (to a plant) is described. The draft drawing is a generic term indicating a collection of a device drawing 1 up to a test specification 9.
In FIG. 26, the design department 20 is a department in a company in which draft drawings for various types of apparatuses are created. The draft drawings created in this design department 20 include a device drawing 1, a device configuration table 2, a master component table 3, a slave component drawing 4, a logic circuit diagram 5, a printed board packing diagram 6, a purchase specification 7, a printed board/device assembly specification 8, and a test specification 9. The device drawing 1 is a master drawing indicating the general configuration of the device or the like. The device configuration table 2 is a list showing the components of the device. The master component table 3 is a list of components used as the components, and is prepared for each component. The slave component drawing 4 is a drawing showing the configuration of a component described in the master component table 3. The slave component drawing 4 is prepared for each component described in the master component table 3.
The logic circuit diagram 5 is a diagram showing a logic circuit in the device. The printed board packing diagram 6 is a diagram showing a packing state when each component is packed on the printed board. The purchase specification 7 is a document showing specifications for purchasing each component used in the device. The printed board/device assembly specification 8 is a document showing the specifications for assembly of the printed board and the device. The test specification 9 is a document showing the specifications of various types of test such as that for checking an assembled product.
The above-described device drawing 1, device configuration table 2, master component table 3, slave component drawing 4, logic circuit diagram 5, printed board packing diagram 6, purchase specification 7, printed board/device assembly specification 8, and test specification 9 are put under management in relation to a version number and are prepared for each version number. Causes for version updating includes errors in designing, changes in designed specifications, or the like. A drawing distribution destination list 10, which is issued by the design department 20, shows destinations (users, plants) for distribution of the device drawing 1 and device configuration table 2 or the like.
A method of registering the draft drawings in a document management department is described below. This document management department is a department which is responsible for the storage of the draft drawings, management of version numbers, and distribution of documents. When a designing step 21a for the device drawing 1 is finished in the design department 20, a responsible person in the design department 20 registers (21b) the device drawing 1 in the document management department and also specifies (21c) destinations for distribution of the device drawing 1. With this operation, the device drawing 1 is stored at a specified site, and the destinations for distribution of the device drawing 1 are written in the drawing distribution destination list 10.
When the need for updating (21d) is generated for a change in design or for other reasons, the responsible person in the design department 20 registers (21b) the updated device drawing 1, and specifies (21c) destinations for distribution of the updated device drawing 1. With this operation, the updated device drawing 1 is stored together with the device drawing 1 with a previous number at a specified site, and destination for distribution of the updated device drawing 1 is written in the drawing distribution destination list 10.
Registration of the device configuration table 2 is carried out in the same manner as the registration of the device drawing 1 described above. Namely when the device configuration table 2 is designed (22a), registration (22b) and specification of destination for distribution (22c) are executed, and then the device configuration table 2 is stored at a specified site and the destinations are written in the drawing distribution destination list 10. Similarly, when the device configuration table 2 is to be updated (22d), registration (22b) and specification of destinations for distribution (22c) are executed, and the updated device configuration table 2 is stored at a specified site, and the destinations for distribution of the updated device configuration table 2 are written in the drawing distribution destination list 10. A responsible person in the design department 20 carries out registration and specification of the destinations for the distribution each time each of the master component table 3 up to the test specification 9 are prepared, or each time the documents are updated.
A method of distributing a document in the document management department is described below. At first, in step SA1, a responsible person in the document management department retrieves the device drawing 1 for a device from a number of draft drawings according to a drawing number corresponding to the device, prepares copies of the device drawing 1, and then carries out the processing in step SA2. In step SA2, the responsible person retrieves, prepares copies of the device configuration table 2, and then carries out the processing in step SA3. In step SA3, the responsible person retrieves and copies a plurality of required master component table 3, and then carries out the processing in step SA4.
In step SA4, the responsible person retrieves a plurality of required slave component drawings 4 by visually checking the master component table 3, prepares copies of the drawings, and then carries out the processing in step SA5. In this case, the responsible person carries out a job for retrieving a plurality of slave component drawings 4 corresponding to a number of copies of the master component table 3, and also carries out a job for copying the documents. Subsequently, in steps SA5 to SA9, the responsible person retrieves and copies the logic circuit diagram 5, printed board packing diagram 6, purchase specification 7, printed board/device assembly specification 8, and test specification 9 respectively.
Further in step SA10, the responsible person retrieves the drawing distribution destination list 10, and then carries out the processing in step SA11. In step SA11, the responsible person separates the device drawing 1 up to the test specification 9 (copies) for each device, each user (plant), and for each device while version for each device visually checking the drawing distribution destination list 10, and sends the documents to each user (each plant).
It is mentioned above that distribution of documents which is executed according to steps SA1 to SA11 in as shown is performed in the conventional technology. However, the actual work for distribution is not so simple, and experience and sophisticated knowledge is required, so that a substantially high-level skill is required.
Namely, in the conventional technology, a responsible person is required to manually retrieve a desired paper drawing from a vast amount of draft drawings according to a drawing number of the device. Further, only a skilled person can execute the work of classifying the documents according to a device, a user, and a version number, and the distribution of documents. Further, when a draft drawing is sent to a user (plant) abroad, it is required to retrieve the draft drawing based on the determination as to whether distribution of the draft drawing is allowable under restrictions by the Export Control Law or Foreign Exchange Law, so that a substantially wide range of knowledge concerning laws is required.
Further each time any portion of a draft drawing is amended, added, or deleted to correct an error in designing or change the design, the draft drawing is updated. Thus, a responsible person is required to also grasp information concerning updates when retrieving a draft drawing, which means an increase of burden on the person. Further, conventionally, the destinations for the distribution of a draft drawing is managed by referring to the drawing distribution destination list 10, but when the destinations for the distribution of the drawing are frequently changed according to the user's convenience, information concerning change in destinations for distribution of the draft drawing is not correctly reflected to the drawing distribution destination list 10, and sometimes an error may occur in distribution.
As described above, conventionally, as paper-based documents (such as draft drawings) are manually managed by persons, a great amount of time and work load is required for this management. Further, a disadvantageously long time is required when a user requests distribution of a draft drawing until he/she receives the draft drawing.